Best Local Hall of Fame

Handball Hall of Fame

STAFF PICK: You may have trouble absorbing what we're about to tell you. It turns out Tucson is one serious hotbed for handball enthusiasts. The United States Handball Association started its hall of fame in Chicago in 1951. When the individual proprietor of the original facility ran into financial difficulties, the whole thing was moved to Tucson in 1982. "Why Tucson?" you may understandably ask. Apparently the recently closed Tucson Athletic Club gained a reputation as a gathering spot for some of the most talented handball players in the country. Other handball players seeking to measure themselves against better competition slowly began coming to Tucson. Eventually, it seems, Tucson became more or less the center of the handball-playing nation. The current, extremely attractive facility was funded entirely by handball players and boasts quite a collection of handball memorabilia. In addition to the pictures of and information on the hall-of-fame inductees, they have rulebooks, trophies, handball gloves and the balls themselves dating back to the late 1800s. This most simple of games (and most difficult to master) has held national championships dating back to 1919. So if you're into handball, or if you're just looking for a roadside attraction a few hundred steps classier than The Thing, go check it out. The staff couldn't be friendlier.